Wizards of Forbidden Fruit
by wolfy447
Summary: What happens when Alex decides to break a rule no one ever talks about. Jalex JustinxAlex AlexxJustin
1. Pineapple Display

She couldn't stop staring at it. The way it caught the light from the pink and blue reflectors inside the pool around her. All alone, floating past her on a Lilly pad was this small little plastic arrangement of pineapples. She couldn't tell if they were bothering her or if she enjoyed them. Yes they were a little over the top, yes they looked a little out of place in this small pool next to a cabana bar, yes she was the only person in that pool to see them, but did they bother her?

She didn't think so. Maybe in a way they were cute. In a way they made the experience that much more real.

Oh, now she hears it.

None of it's real. Of course you can touch the pineapple if neccesarry to shoo it away, and of course she could get rid of the pineapple by setting it away. It's plastic, it's not real. She can't bite into and feel the juices sprits across her tongue. She cant remove the core and lay her lips over it to suck the flavor dry. This is not an island paradise.

That's just the name of the resort.

Her eyes found her brother Justin over by the much larger pool less than thirty feet away from her. Through a fence, across a stone path, and through a useless gate made up of boards too far apart to keep anyone out he stood with a big goofy smile on his face as he told another one of his pointless stories to some girl.

The annoying thing was... this nobody Regina George wanna be was eating it up. With hr thin green top covering only her nipples and her tiny matching bikini bottoms, blonde hair pulled back into a bun on top of her head to keep it dry, and that fake pearl necklace dangling from her neck like a knock off flint-stone.

'Gross.' The thought echoed across her mind. Looking around she came to another thought: 'Where the hell is everybody? Surly they're not all just at one pool, there's so many at this resort.' She could hear the soft beat of a bearskin drum so close to her yet far enough to where she couldn't see the source. Her eyes met the bartender as she rose from her pink seashell float. Rising to her feet feeling the cold water swarm up to her waist she made her way over to the bar and pulled herself onto one of the stools.

"Can I ask you something?" She said without looking at him.

Her eyes were on the blue and grey marble top her fingers across the surface she watched as the droplets gathered as he made his way over to her.

"Of course." He smiled as he flipped a hand towel over his shoulder.

"I'll take a papaya smoothie, but..." her eyes slowly floated up to meet his. The sapphires in his head were so pretty that she couldn't look away. "What's the point of the Pineapple display?" She chuckled. "I don't see any other fake fruits or flowers around here, even the vines on the beams here..." She ran one hand up the wood as she kept looking at him just to show him what she meant. "None of these are fake. Why the Pineapple?"

He popped the glass down in front of her with a confused expression on her face before following her gaze to the party going on at the next pool over. "To tell you the truth..." He sighed flipping his long shaggy brown hair out of his eyes. The golden locks falling down around his ears but stopping just before the side burns. "I'm not the one who put it there... no one knows who did. They just don't move it because they're not sure if they should. I've actually noticed it for some time and I myself haven't moved it because I didn't feel like it was something I should do. If you were to decide to move it there's nothing I or anyone else can do to stop you. I can kind of tell this has nothing to do with the Pineapple simply because you keep looking over at where the crowds at. For any situation you can chose to leave the pineapple there and eventually someone else may decide to move it, however we wouldn't be having this conversation if you didn't feel like you had a plastic display to get out of your way now would it."

She gave him an odd look. Some random stranger, or moreover a guy who works at this lavish yet completely painted resort, just gave her a philosophy and she actually understood the premise. This wasn't about plastic objects it was about plastic rules. Rules that had always been there. Rules a wizard like her was so used to breaking. She was a troublemaker. The along comes one more plastic rule, one she barely notices but it's enough to make her think, and now she wants to know if it's a rule that would stop her. This is more than just forbidden spells, it's more than shoplifting a top, it's even more than making your parents forget they ever met (All of which happened at this very resort almost ten years ago).

On that same day she noticed this Pineapple display in her own life. The one rule she never understood. The one rule she pretends isn't there because the more she thinks about it the more she wants to break it. On that same day Justin became something to her, something dangerous yet inviting. He became her Plastic fruit. With the magic in her blood she can make it real. She could bite into it like it was fresh off the tree. Or wherever Pineapples come from.

She wanted Justin. She wanted to taste the forbidden fruit he had to offer. He got on her nerves, he was relentlessly annoying, and he had the worst way of pointing out her failures, but he was Justin. Justin the older brother, the protective smart big guy who got her out of all sorts of trouble, the one thing she wasn't allowed to have.

Why? Why wasn't she allowed to have him? Because of some... Pineapple Display. An old rule from here say and they say. He's pretty, he's gentle, he's so good to her, and he's right over there. He could be in her suite tonight. No, he would probably end up in Regina's suite, or based on that bad nail polish and the fact that she didn't look any older than sixteen means she would be in his... for maybe an hour... till her parents came looking for her.

Imagine his shock when he finds out she's not eighteen. Twenty six years old, drunk, and never been in trouble a day in his life. Maybe it was meant for her to get that Pineapple Display out of the pool. Maybe she should be the one to take the initiative. Slipping her fingers into her purple bra she snagged a card.

She reached it towards the bartender but he shook his head 'no.'

"It's on the house." He smiled. "So long as you move that ugly plastic pineapple."

With a wink she plopped herself down in the water and moved to scoop it up in her hands. Stepping out of the pool she walked across the concrete and made her way to the real party. She'd better hurry, it looks like Justin's already inviting this cheap panty waste over for a little fruit salad.


	2. Walls of Jericho

"Oh hey look she has the missing pineapple display!" The voice came from a girl sitting in a lounge chair beside a set of twins.

"Yeah!" Said one.

Then people began to cheer. Some guy with a thin grey tank top walked over and took it from her hands, "We've been looking everywhere for this!" He beamed his pearly whites at her before turning to lift it into the air. "It has come back to us!"

Another round of cheers as Alex noticed the amount of fake fruit and plants everywhere. It was odd, how on the surface it's inviting but up close something here made her feel uncomfortable. "What's your name?" The guy turned to look at her and clearly the people here were expecting a name so she gave them one.

"Harper Finkle." She smiled before walking away.

"That's an odd name." said the tank top guy as he became another blurry face in the crowd.

"Justin!" Alex cried as she got nearer to him.

"Alex! Hey!" He smiled when he saw her and her knees got weak. Bumping into the nearest person there she tumbled over and landed in a seat beside someone else she knew.

"Another Russo. You guys seem to be coming from everywhere." Her caramel skin and thick wavy hair complimenting her cocoa brown eyes.

"It's just me and Justin..."

"No... Your other brother and CeeCee decided to take the party upstairs to her room."

"Max is here?" Her eyes widened.

"Yeah... guy decided it was a good idea to wear a pair of trunks that were too big for him and the only person interested in the python between his thighs was her."

The two of them laughed as Alex looked back to see that Justin was no longer interested in the conversation he had been having with the Regina George clone. His eyes were locked on Alex. Her skin. Why was he staring at her? He should get up and go talk to his sister, he had so much he needed to tell her but... he's drunk. He doesn't want to sound stupid. She's so pretty. No! He can't think that way, that's his baby sister, he's supposed to protect her from the other guys. From the pigs, the starving wolves, the college boy pricks. What better way than to be the one who- 'No! She's my sister. End of story.' He looked back over at the girl he had been talking to and was taken over with a wave of disinterest.

"You know..." Said Rocky. "The game your playing right now is very dangerous. To toy with a man's spirit is to destroy the fabric of reality." She had this proud look on her face. The same one she had when she got her degree a year earlier than she was supposed to.

"What game?" Alex furrowed her brow.

"I can smell the intentions on your breath. You're completely sober. It's almost two AM and the way you rushed over here to see Justin... you're up to something. I saw something in that whole situation with the Pineapple display. You've reached a wall... what exactly are you going to say to knock it down."

"Have you been smoking weed?" The trouble maker was concerned. So many spot on guesses there must have been something about this former dance celebrity that mere muggles don't understand.

Ever since Lord Voldemort defeated Harry Potter in the battle of ultimate good versus evil it's always been difficult keep track of a certain breed of her kind. Those who are muggle born have developed a new masking method. A way to protect themselves from the tyranny of the ministry.

"I don't care who she is! She stole my parking spot. I want her vehicle towed." A high pitched whine of a diva with mad daddy issues.

"Maim... I'm a bartender." He had no intention of learning more about her problems.

"London!" One of the twins popped up.

"Cody?" She turned on her heel with a big grin on her face. "Zack?" The two of them crossed over to greet their old friend.

Alex recognized her. Alex knew her from somewhere. She knew all three of them from the S.S. Tipton, that trip was a very confusing mess of problems especially when dealing with a fame hungry pop star. That's not where she knew London Tipton from. She knew her from Hogwarts.

In 2001 she and her two brothers were required to visit school to enroll in their own father's classes to train for the battle of becoming the family wizard. Had Harry Potter not died with the reputation of becoming a villain Max would still have his powers. Oh the torture they put Justin through as the headmaster of Wiz Tech.

It was there, in what was known as the mess hall years ago, she spotted the girl in a line beside her among the many blurry faces of future wizards (If they won their tournaments). A man named Marion Mosbey holding her hand. An odd pair, everyone knew he wasn't her father.

"Hey!" Rocky snapped her fingers in front of Alex's face. "Loosen up, you're on vacation." Passing a glass of blood red poison in her friends direction.

Alex refused. "Surrounded by Pineapple displays and fire walls. This is just as much prison as it is to be in my own home. Welcome to twenty nineteen." In a confused state, unsure weather or not to be angry she sighed standing to her feet and turning to walk towards the gate behind them.

"Alex!" Her brother cried. "Wait..." He stumbled to his feet and tripped over himself trying to get to her. She picked him up off the ground pulling his towel from around his neck to dust it off before twisting it and lying it back where it was and smirking at him. "I don't want to do anything stupid tonight... I don't trust myself right now can you help me back to my room?"

Her eyes found Rocky's condescending glare and she sighed. "Come on..." She allowed him to slink one arm over her shoulder as she hobbled towards the door feeling his warm skin beneath her delicate fingertips.

"I heard you talking to Rocky..." He slurred as there feet met the sand of the beach.

Alex's eyes widened in fear as she kept her eyes on the skyline where the hotel they were staying in met the stars.

"Life really does feel like a prison."

A wave washed over both of them. The water met their ankles to mimic the feeling of shackles. How trapped they were in reality. This world is so strange...

"Existence is weird Justin." She told him.

"Very... like what the hell are feet." He sniffled. "Why do we have them? I know we need to walk but toes, and nails... none of it makes sense."

It didn't. Though she knew he wasn't just talking about feet he was right. Nothing in the world makes sense. Aren't we supposed to be plucking fruit off the branches of trees and discovering new land everyday? We live in houses behind walls, we live in characters behind clothes, we live in an artificial reality behind Pineapple displays. Why can't we run? Why can't we climb the wall? Why is there a wall? Why is it that in every book there is always a good and a bad guy but the bad guy is simply a person who wants control. Those novels never tell you about the bad things that happen in a good world. It looks like a utopia but behind those passwords are secrets, behind those holograms are hollow people, behind those movies are actors who live in two dimensions rather than three.

"Hey Justin?"

"Yeah Alex?"

"If I were to jump over the wall would you go with me?"

"I'd tear the whole damn thing down for you Alex."

He looked at her. She looked at him. For the first time, they saw the universe for what it was supposed to be.


	3. Come Morning Sun

She rolled in the sheets, how strong his scent was. Images of the night before flooded her mind, she pulled her legs to her chest. Slowly, the tears begin to fall. It's not guilt... it's a broken heart. She's the only one in the cotton universe of threads and heat. He's gone. The sun beams down on her bleeding through white sheets and she can feel the tips of her fingers, plastic.

Alex Russo,

A young woman with power in a world where power is a method to madness. A young woman with a desire in a world where desires are snatched up by people who devour people in a game that never ends. 'Come on Alex.' She groans to herself as she rises up. 'Time to pack.' It was the end of her vacation. Time to return to the manor. Return to the house elf and the muggle slave she owned, return to her life alone in a home that felt more like a cell in the deepest crevice of the Earth.

As her legs shifted she could almost feel him between them. His lips, his skin, his own legs, his tongue, his soul. How wonderful in the moment but now it feels like mist on her face in the morning. face in the dew covered grass, clothes covered in mud, alone.

Well, maybe not entirely.

There's a noise coming from the bathroom just beside the only way in and out of this room less you count the four story leap off a balcony. Oh the balcony, how smooth his hands felt on her thighs as the sun rose little more than five hours ago. Right before he lifted her into his arms and dropped her into this hundred thread count bliss, that now only feels like emptiness.

A sudden wave of paranoia settles in the base of her chest, "Who's there?"

Another sound, only louder this time, she rises to her feet and Justin's baggy t-shirt falls down to her hips over the lace pale blue panties that clings to a tan line along her pelvis. She reached over and yanks the lamp from his socket in the wall off the nightstand before crossing over to the shelf that holds the entertainment center. All time seems to slow down as she approaches the door.

"I'm coming in!" She cries mere seconds before she rears back to swing.

As she takes her blow directed at the wood of the door it separates from the frame and instead her younger brother Max takes the hit to the face before tumbling backwards into the tub.

"Jesus Alex... What the fuck." He winces as his hand finds the red knot now swelling on his temple. The smell of scotch is on his lips and his snake hangs low in his checkered boxers which do little to hide his predicament.

"Max? How long have you been in here?" Shame flutters like butterflies in her belly and he scoffs.

"Long enough... No judgment." He shrugs, "I needed a place to crash for the evening and I felt intrusive anyway." This look appears on his face as if he had only just realized something utterly grave, "Do you... remember what happened... last night?" He asks.

Her attention draws away from his reluctance to hide his nudity and she catches the look of fear in his eyes. A feeling of pure dread washes over both of them. At the same time they whisper, "The creatures."

Like lighting, the night returns to her.

She sees his eyes as he finds her in the gleam of the moon, his smile as he whispers to her his drunken sweet nothings, then all of a sudden she hears his scream. They're scattered, the pieces of what happened, 'obliviate' such a powerful spell but not strong enough to take away the world they created together. A small fracture appears in her mind, of what it looked like. This horrifying, other worldly being that snatched her brother away in the night.

How does Max know, wouldn't they have wiped his memory too? Probably not... not even Alex knew he was in the bathroom all night.

He smiles at her, "You know just last night, as the Martin twins started to play some games with Cecee and I, there was a moment where Cody said to me 'why does this have to end? Why can't we simply... escape.' I did't know what he meant but now I do." The smile becomes a wicked grin as he rushes past her and pulls open one of the drawers. I hear him mutter something about Justin's choice of clothes but eventually he sucks it up and pulls a shirt over his head and as he's snapping shut the button on some jeans he says, "I think this could be that moment. The escape..." He grabs a bag and begins shoving random things in it and as she walk over to the other side of the bed she catch the lunacy in his expression, "We're going on an adventure."

Thrown off Alex stand there as he opens the mini fridge and takes out a series of vodka bottles to throw in the bag with him. A small tin he lifts off the counter and the smell of cannabis hits her nostrils as he throws it in too and zips the pouch, "Get dressed, meet me in the breakfast lounge in a half hour. Wear something you would if you were going hiking."

With that, he's out the door.


	4. Maxxed Out

"EXsCuse ME?" Rocky stared wide eyed at her ginger headed best friend unsure how to feel. "You slept with THREE boys at one time? Are you Stupid?" She glared waiting for an answer.

Cecee thought for a moment. Did she? The memory was there but if he had to be completely honest, "Once Cody and Max touched for the first time everything changed. It was almost like, despite being in the same bed, the two of them were very far away. I felt like I was alone with Zack. It was weird... The two of them had us in some sort of... trance." Her eyes were on the ocean, a stir in her chest as she remembered what it felt like to have Zack bite into her like she was the last apple in the orchard.

Something in his smirk made her feel... safe.

However, when she caught a glimpse of Cody, there was nothing but darkness in his eyes. She pitied Max in those few hours before the roles were turned and the whole event goes dark in her mind. The rest of the night was a blur.

"I'll never understand you." Rocky says as she turns the wine bottle up to her lips.

"You know they work here..." Cecee began but just then another sound erupted near them in the open lot of umbrella covered tables outside the breakfast lounge.

Max jumped into a seat and plopped down a series of papers and pens onto the table before diving in and scribbling away. Cecee took another bite of her bagel and looked away, wanting nothing to do with him or the twins because the very idea of them made her squeamish.

Rocky furrows her brow as she looks over at the kid with the pen. The way he held it, so delicate yet firm. The way he focused on his work, blowing that piece of hair out of his left eye every few minutes.

When half an hour went by his sister found him.

By then Rocky and Cecee had already left.

"Max?" She looked down at the paper confused. "Are these applications?"

He nodded, "Just fill it out." He said in a gruff. "I'll explain it all later."

So... she does.

Meanwhile, deep in the jungle.

As the sun burns high in the sky, he gets to rest. How he clings to the light of the sun for he knows when the star decides to vanish over the horizon they will come. When they come, he will suffer.

How he pities the new guy.

PJ Duncan missed one thing most of all, his younger brother Gabe. How detrimental it feels to remember that moment; watching the young boy die. Unable to help, unable to speak, unable to weep. To witness your own brother tortured to his last breath. Now, in comes another victim. One to add to the torment.

Separated by a small clearing the two men sat in cage facing each other.

"What are they going to do to me?" Justin asks the man opposite him lying on the flat ground behind his own bars.

It's a fair question, did PJ have the strength to respond. With as much as they've taken from him probably not. After a while, Justin simply mimicked his block mates movements and curled up on the ground to watch the sky. It would be hours before _they_ came...

"Max, why are we here?" She asks as she looks over a few dresses near the front door. TJ Maxx, a retail company that sells more than you need. Right here on the island resort, open till nine PM every night and in full swing until the doors lock.

He turns to her with a smirk as they approach the front desk.

"Hi, welcome to TJ Maxx. Would you like to save some money today?" Raven Baxter popped her tongue as she smirked down at them from behind the counter.

"Uh.. we'd like to apply actually." A familiar face comes from behind the Q- line near the men's section as Max lays down both forms on the counter.

Cody Martin crosses through behind the registers and smiles as he picks up Max's form to look it over, "What brings you to the Maxx?" He smirks at her brother in a way that makes Alex Shudder.

She watches as the two boys interact. What is that? She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Max liked girls. Sure he got experimental, what Russo doesn't, but she saw something in this that wasn't... human.

She grabs her brother's shoulder, "Max... I don't like this idea. What do I need with a job? I have-"

"What?" He spoke after her hesitation to finish such a simple statement. "What do you have? A home? A life? Maybe the first one but I've seen you in those halls and I know your not happy. Trust me..." Wow, a few years without magic and her brother starts talking like this? Who is he? Alan Watts?

Cody comes out from behind the counter near the door and takes both applications with him as he beckons them to follow him with a, "Thank you Raven. I'll be back in a few minutes to help you ring."

She nods and reaches for the button on her headset connected to her walkie-talkie, CHHH 'Chelsea can you come up to the front to ring please?' CHHH

CHHH 'Sure Ray.' CHHH, A perky voice comes through on the channel.

In only a few moments a young red head appears with a smile on her face, "So... how you liking it so far?"

"It's great Chels..." She beams back. "I mean I'd have never thought I'd be selling Ravenous designs in a TJ Maxx let alone working for one of their hottest locations here on an island resort with my best friend." She nods as she scans another item and asks a customer to sign up for a credit card. They kindly refuse and take their receipt to walk on.

"I told you... and the kids are safe, having the time of their lives." Chelsea moves over to collect a few hangers to stack them on the rack at the far end of the counter.

"I know-" Her brow furrows as she sees Zack Martin shift through a tote of Calvin Klein shirts, "Hey Chelse... what do you know about the twins?" She asks, uncertain.

"Oh? Zack and Cody?" Her ginger locks disappear beneath the desk as she dives in to retrieve a series of bags for her register, "They helped me get the job actually. Really good guys. I think they're uh..." Her eyes pop up to meet Ravens as she searches for the words.

"What? Raven asks, then an idea hits her, "Gay? Both of them? Girl I doubt it..." She scoffs as she turns back to the customer.

"No.. I was going to say gifted... like you and Levi." They share a look and no more guests arrive until Cody arrives back at the registers.

He hung up a few hangers before his eye caught the figurine someone had brought back. An item he would have to recover an return to the floor. An Item that upset him, A fat Buddha sculpture. "I hate these things." He sighs as he picks it up. "Buddha wasn't fat, he rejected self. He never supported laziness. Only self prosperity." With another sigh he lifts it and walks away.

Max and Alex step out into the low setting sun. Four hours of videos on common sense regulations on rules of safety in a place where there was nothing scarier than your own reflection. For them at least.

She groaned as she rubbed her head looking up at the pineapple decor that hung from strings across the alley way in the outlet. "Why did I wear this outfit for an interview- why did I get a job? Why was that so easy?" She furrowed her brow at her brother. "How is it that we got through all of that; an application, an interview, and orientation, all in one day?"

He didn't have an answer for any of those questions except one; the first one, "It wasn't for the interview..." Reaching down to grab a hold of his badge connected to the lanyard that hung from his neck, "It's for what we have access to now." He winked.


End file.
